4 Video Battle Reports from Kegworth

I've just posted some video batreps from all 4 of my games at the Kegworth Codgers midweek ADLG competitin held a couple of weeks back. 

You can watch along with these mostly sub-10-minute videos to see the unsubtle Parthians throw cataphracts (and cataphract camels!) into a series of defensively arrayed mostly-Roman armies with varying degrees of success 

The videos include ADLG army lists for all of the forces involved, the results from the event and an announcement about further midweek ADLG competitions.

Elephants Sir! Faarsands of 'em!

 In the margins of the recent SELWG show in Picketts Lock a well-padded BHGS Teams event took place with sets of three players contesting ADLG glory in three well-themed pools - including Maximum Elephants!

This was where I deployed the might of the Delhi Sultanate for the first ever time in an army packed with grenade-throwing skirmishers, top-drawer Mughal Guardsmen, Abyssinian Melee Specialists and of course three full-fat Armoured Elephants.

Read on to see how this hodge-podge of combat capability fared in 5 lavishly illustrated Madaxeman battle reports aginst the Timurids (twice), Alexander The Great, The Seleucids and also an Indian army from an earlier era.

Swoon as the elephants charge forward into the jaws of melee!

Gasp in awe and delight as brightly coloured warriors engage in mortal tabletop combat

Groan at the endless poor puns and irrelevant animations gratuitously stuffed into the narrative!

I even throw in some very old holiday snaps for you as well !

All 5 reports are now on the Madaxeman.com Website

ADLG in Estella, Navarre - What's it to you !?!

Buono Estente!  An intrepid team of Central London ADLG players continue our pre-Brexit World Tour by taking ourselves off to Estella in Northern Spain, the gateway to La Rioja, and also home to the wines of Navarre (which are of course just as good if not even a little better than those of Rioja, especially if you are playing ADLG with the good gamers of Navarre, like we were).

In the resulting 5 ADLG match reports and gastronomic and touristic reviews, as well as the accompanying immediately-post-event episode of the Madaxeman.com Podcast (this episode entitled Dear Catastrophe Tapas Waitress) you can see how a classic DBx army, the Patrician Romans, fares in ADLG.

This was a deliberate attempt to create a wall of barbarians and overwhelm the enemy by sheer hairyness after this tactic, impossible to do well in most other rulesets, had caused me so much trouble when I had encountered it in several previous events.

The Patrician list that emerged was far from Reigate Standard in all senses of the word, but did they manage to "tapas" into a vein of success in these 5 L'Art de la Guerre battles in Spain, or was their "tinto" spilt and were then instead left like so many huevos rotos on the floor by the pride of Navarre?

Read on to find out more ....

Malifaux Rollercoaster!

Last weekend I took part in a Malifaux event in Chessington - but was it a World of Adventures, or a Steaming Pile of a Shambles?

Read the 4 small yet perfectly formed match reports (yes, 4 games in one day - ouch!) of how my Arcanists (4 different masters in one day - ouch again!) took on Ten Thunders, including the new Asami Master, and Neverborn in a variety of high-octane tasks and challenges

Derby 2016 - The Kalmar Union in FoGR Action

A frantic effort not to retain a trophy that needs engraving comes to a cattle shed near an airport next to a busy motorway near a town with a great ring road!

It's almost as glamorous as Charleroi, but it's in England and it's Derby again!

The Mighty Kalmar Union are pretty medieval, but despite the clue being in the name, they are from Scandinavia, not Greece. Either way, will the army be pitted like olives or enjoy a smorgasbord of success in these 4 FoGR reports against a range of in-theme opponents.

Horizon Wars!!!

Yes, Osprey's new "skirmish+" scale Sci Fi rules have finally proved to be the justification for all of the mad mini-mechs and stuff you will have seen creeping, scuttling and hovering onto this website in recent months with no real purpose.

As classic wargamers, the first on-table test of the rules involved bespoke terrain, and far too many figures and pieces to be sensible - but hey, what's a tentacle between friends eh?

This 1-page match report features hordes of pictures, legions of inappropriate video clips, some rules hints and a little bit of a glowing review at the end (and a glowing nuclear reactor in the middle too).

It also features snippets of back-story embedded throughout the report - something not really previously necessary in historical gaming reports!

See how the battle-bots do in the first of what may well be several more outings for the SF wonderkids in Horizon Wars, The Beginning

Post Industrial Decay & Fruit Based Drinks – Madaxeman.com plays ADLG at The 2016 Worlds

“The Worlds” – not the one in Derby, but the global historical multi-ruleset gaming tournament that traces its’ lineage back over a decade and which now was occurring up in its’ most glamorous location ever – Charleroi in Belgium.

This year an intrepid team of Central Londoners made the hazardous journey into post-Brexit Europe by trains, planes and automobiles to take on the world in the biggest and most multi-national competition at this year’s event – L’Art de la Guerre, featuring almost 50 players drawn from France, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the USA (and us...).

In 6 lavishly (or should that be laddishly?) illustrated match reports you can be astounded by the local architecture, amazed by the quality of painting of the opposition’s troops, puzzled by the near-complete absence of success for the 15mm Condotta army list that did do well in their previous 25mm outing at Devizes, and enlightened by the usual flurry of ADLG hints, rules explanations and insights.

With over 10,000 words, and opponents ranging from as far afield as Han China to as close as a Condotta civil war, these 6 perfectly formed match reports make compelling and convincing reading for anyone considering ADLG, especially those looking for evidence that a game with around 35 DBx bases per side has enough variety in list composition, tactics and general play style to offer repeated playability.

At the end of each report Hannibal is quite rude about my tactics (as usual), a few of the speech bubbles have swearing in them as well (which always goes down well on Frothers), and there is even multimedia accompaniment in the form of a post-event Madaxeman.com Podcast for you to download and listen to whilst painting your next army!

Read on to see how the Condotta did in teeny tiny 15mm scale playing The Worlds Most Popular Competition-grade Ancients Ruleset - ADLG at The Worlds 2016.

A West Country Monster! 25mm ADLG from Devizes

With the purchase and painting of far too many Perry 25/8mm medieval figures having been successfully concluded in less than a year - racing ahead of many other odds and sods on my painting table in the process - the time came to let the rabbit see the carrot and head down to the glorious West of England to take part in a hastily arranged but still over-subscribed 25mm ADLG competition at Devizes Attack! 2016.

The Perry figures were duly packed into the box and the car, and soon the 6x4 table was graced with the first ever Madaxeman.com 25mm ADLG competition army - an "all the toys" Condottieri affair.

The results were a visual feast as the 60mm x 60mm multiple-rank basing format (or 60mm x 40mm for some stuff) of L'Art de la Guerre appeared to work really well in giving a sensible balance between having enough moving pieces on table (around 20-odd), with enough figure density (2-4 ranks for everyone) but still leaving space for a degree of maneuver which prevented the games descending into the sort of head-on table-edge-to-table-edge slow motion crash that has bedevilled unit-based 25mm games in the past.

Glory at the eye candy, be mildly entertained by the usual crap captions and inane post-match analysis, and educate yourself with a host of rules hints, tips and explanations for the Most Popular Ancients Competition Ruleset In the World Right Now.... in full-on plastico-vision Big Toys widescreen !!

Gordon Bennett, it's El Sid! 5 more ADLG Reports

ADLG has reinvigorated a whole host of previously little-seen armies and figures, and next up on the rehabilitation trail are some Two Dragons Normans (and dubiously Viking-esque Almughavar morphs) who take part as a Feudal Spanish army in 5 games of 300 point large-army L'Art de la Guerre 15mm action at the 2016 BHGS Challenge.

Marvel at how these brave Norman-esque warriors emerge blinking into the light after so many years with flocked (rather than more modern grass tufted) bases.

Thrill as they double-base themselves to form ADLG units.

Gasp in horror as they still appear to have learnt nothing about tactics and planning despite their years of free time in which to study the classic military manuals.

And chortle with smutty delight as El Sid James provides the General's Commentary in all 5 match reports

Roll Call 2016 - Taking a Pontic punt at ADLG

As ADLG makes it's way onto the big boys table of UK competitions with a 16-player field for 15mm ADLG at Roll Call 2016, discover how Mithradates of Pontus manages to almost (but not quite) control his many and varied disparate troop types in 5 games against all possible flavours of Romans.

Yes, it's 5 brand new Match Reports, complete with rules hints and explanations for what might well be the worlds most popular Ancients competition ruleset right now, L'Art de la Guerre.

Burton Doubles 2016 - the Multimedia Extravaganza!

Burton, a classic and historic venue ... the ideal setting for a video and audio online multi-platform interactive assault on common sense and common decency as Madaxeman.com launches a PODCAST... and a VIDEO PODCAST to supplement the match reports!!

See (and hear) how the Triumverate Roman & Jewish army fared against the Romano-British & Patricians, 3K Chinese & Hsiung Nu, Armenians & Romans and Parthians (Elemayan) & Hatrenes in 4 separate fully detailed ADLG match reports!

Or, you can just read the damned things on the web just like in the olden days ...

ADLG in London - 3 Reports with Hannibal in command

The inaugural Central London ADLG 1-dayer saw Hannibal commanding the Carthaginians in 3 games of L'Art de la Guerre, against the forces of India, Rome and Macedonia.

See how Hannibal fared in three fully-photographed match reports, including the usual mix of rules hints and explanations, dubious captions and withering post-game analysis from Monty Hannibal, Pirate Hannibal and Viking Hannibal

The Maratha In The Southern League

Don "The Don" McHugh organised a round of the Southern League one-day FoGR competition in chilly Clevedon recently and this encouraged me to field yet another new army (made up of rather dubiously morphed old figures) - the Maratha.

Now, in 3 fully detailed and historically accurate match reports you can see how the Renaissance Indians did against Samurai, Jin Chinese and finally full widescreen Technicolor Aztecs.

The reports also feature expert critique and analysis from a new member of the Madaxeman.com Pundits Panel, our resident expert on Indian armies, the legendary General and Indian King Hannibalipuripathi

4 Ancients Reports from Lisbon 2012

After a rather long break from the pre-gunpowder world, Madaxeman.com is pleased to bring you 4 new reports from the 2012 ITC in Lisbon, in which Hannibal himself takes command of a Carthaginian army and take on Alexander the Great, two lots of R*m*ns, and some Seleukids

The reports can be found here

They include all of the traditional rubbish, some new bits from Twitter and a short video analysis of the Alexandrian army strengths and weaknesses too.

As Hannibal was actually commanding the Carthaginian army, I have been forced to draft in some almost-as-tough-as-Hannibal hard men to give the post match analysis and attempt to critique the perfection which was Hannibal's battle plan. So get ready for insightful comments from Chuck Norris, Jack Bauer, Clint Eastwood and Jason Statham as well...

4 Match Reports from Roll Call

All 4 battles now uploaded to the website. Photos, writeups, lists and the return of Hannibal's award-winning Post Match Analysis - Click Here.